Sociological
Research Project
This project is designed to allow students to perform all of the relevant tasks associated with sociological research. The best way to learn a concept is to actually put the concept to use on a real project. In choosing your topic, pick an area that you can actually research. For example if one of your group members works with Street Outreach for the Homeless, you have a way to actually get information in the way of statistics, survey’s etc…
Within groups, students will be asked to complete several activities. Your group will be expected to produce an oral report and put together a notebook that includes the following information. Each area listed below should be a section in your notebook.
Minimum Criteria/Activities: (to be submitted to
instructor, see calendar for due date)
1.
Selection of a Research Topic
Ø
Your
group’s task is to select an area of sociology that you would be interested in
researching i.e.: “The effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on Veteran’s in Tacoma/Pierce
County.
Ø
Include a summary of your groups’ discussion.
Where did it start?
Where did you end up?
A. Selection of a specific topic within your group’s general topic. Ex. Homelessness can be narrowed down to Homelessness & Veterans.
Ø Include a summary of what brought your group to choose this topic. This summary can include personal experience, observation, curiosity, etc. There should be at least one reference to each person in your group and should be at least one page in length.
2.
Construction of a Hypothesis
Ø Should be no more than 2-3 sentences.
Ø
A
hypothesis is a prediction about the relationship between two or more
variables; in an experiment, the prediction of a cause-effect relationship
between two variables i.e.: There is an
increased number of homeless veterans in Tacoma than in the Tri Cities area of
Washington, due to the location of American Lake Veteran’s Hospital.
3.
Research Design
Ø Should identify the following information in narrative form:
Ø Number of participants
Ø Criteria for participation
Ø Method(s) of data collection
Ø Rationale/why did you choose what method you used
Ø Development of data collection tools
Ø Timeline
4.
Review of Literature
Ø
Students must complete a literature review and
identify at least three pieces of scholarly (books & journals) research in
the following format. What is a
literature review? It is a review of
other research that has already been completed on your topic (see attached
sheet re: scholarly vs. popular articles).
You must go to the library and the internet in order to do your
literature review.
Ø Identify how each article relates to your specific topic (duplicates, unrelated, etc.)
Ø Reference of the article (ex. according to…..
or a study conducted by…..)
Ø Identify the findings of each article
5.
Data Analysis and Conclusions
Ø Should include what information you gathered statistically as well as narratively.
Ø You should address any problems you found when completing your research (ex. We arranged to survey 50 people, 10 showed up)
Ø Include any tables, graphs, charts, etc. in this section
6. Conclusions
Ø Was your hypothesis proven true or untrue?
Ø
Use this section to draw conclusions about what
type of future research should occur, critique your project and include the
positive points as well as changes that you would make if you did it again.
7.
References
Ø
All materials referenced in any of the sections
must be listed here in correct APA (5th ed.) format.
8.
Group Summary
Ø
All group members will contribute to the
completion of a summary of the group experience. Include how the group worked
together, any struggles or difficulties, any growth or good experiences,
etc.
Ø
Use your group interaction chapters and
diversity chapters to assist you in summarizing your group experiences.
Ø
All members of the group must participate in the
Oral Report to the class and you
must you include one type of Audio/Visual in your presentation. This oral report is a presentation to the
class of your research and group summary.
Ø
Make a list that indicates the job titles in the
group and the job tasks. Make a list and
indicate who was assigned to each job.
This project will be scored utilizing the scoring criteria on the attached page. See calendar for due dates.
ASSESSMENT
CRITERIA
5 4 3 2 1
EXCELLENT GOOD AVERAGE NEEDS IMPROVEMENT POOR
1. THE PROJECT NOTEBOOK IS WELL ORGANIZED AND CONTAINS THE REQUIRED INFORMATION.
5 4 3 2 1
2. THE HYPOTHESIS & RESEARCH METHOD FIT THE TOPIC THAT THE GROUP SELECTED.
5 4 3 2 1
3. ALL SECTIONS OF THE PROJECT WERE COMPLETED ACCORDING TO DIRECTIONS AND PROJECT CRITERIA
5 4 3 2 1
4. ALL SECTIONS OF THE PROJECT WERE CLEARLY WRITTEN AND DEMONSTRATED AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE MATERIAL
5 4 3 2 1
5. THE PROJECT WAS PLANNED, IMPLEMENTED, AND COMPLETED WITHIN THE TIMELINE GIVEN.
5 4 3 2 1
6. THE CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE PROJECT WERE LOGICAL AND FOLLOWED A RATIONALE TRAIN OF THINKING.
5 4 3 2 1
7. THE GROUP SUMMARY INCLUDED A DETAILED SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT EXPERIENCE AND CONTAINED CONTRIBUTIONS FROM EACH GROUP MEMBER
5 4 3 2 1
8. THE GROUP PERFORMED THE RESEARCH NECCESARY TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT.
5 4 3 2 1
9. THE PROJECT WAS WRITTEN UTILIZING CORRECT FORMAT, SPELLING, REFERENCE CITATIONS, TYPED AND WAS WELL ORGANIZED.
5 4 3 2 1
10. THE PROJECT WAS PRESENTED IN A CLEAR AND PROFESSIONAL MANNER. ALL GROUP MEMBERS EQUALLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE PRESENTATION.
5 4 3 2 1
THE FINAL GRADE WILL BE FORMULATED UTILIZING THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
EACH 5 WILL REPRESENT 10 PTS
EACH 4 WILL REPRESENT 8 PTS
EACH 3 WILL REPRESENT 4 PTS
EACH 2 WILL REPRESENT 2 PTS
EACH 1 WILL REPRESENT 0 PTS
TOTAL POSSIBLE PTS. 100